Monday, October 31, 2011

A the cliches... Don't CRY over spilled milk, turn a negative into a positive, Well this us one of those "happy accidents". We all work in TIGHT spaces. And as I was 'creating', my square inches of space was ever decreasing! I had out inks, stamps, misters, stencils, blending tools, water AND a heat gun. Well one quick turn to grab something and SPLOOOSH, over goes the bottle of OPEN Radient Rain! S#!T!!! Yes, I said it. LOUD and PROUD.

Well, since I was working on tags for an upcoming demo and workshop, I had a PILE of TAGS handy!!! Which was good they weren't in proximity of the disaster, but close enough to grab! So what does a clever crafter do? Use what's in front of her and start DABBING! So I began lay a tag into the split Radiant Rain, lift it up, dry it off with the Heat it tool, lay it back into the Radiant Rain, rub the back, dry and REPEAT. At LEAST 5-6 times!

And lucky for ME, I had one tagged inked with Broken China Distress Ink.... That would be the one on the left. I had "dripped' some Radiant Rain on it, but wasn't done with it. It was PERFECT to sop up some of the Radiant Rain after the first tag was done. That would be the tag on the left.

The tag in the center is the first tag. The far right, is the tag that got the last of the liquid off my board.

A new technique you ask? Well, I did too. AND maybe I'll go ask Pat over at Technique Junkies about it, just as soon as I come up with a name. Radiant Klutz?Radiant Disaster?Radiant Sploosh? Haven't settled on a title.

While I don't recommend you purposefully dump a perfectly good bottle of anything over, you do have to answer the door when someone knocks, grab your bootstraps and make hay while the sun shines....

Monday, October 17, 2011

I used the Umbrella from the Umbrella Man Alterations die. I then added some 'dingles' to give it that Louisiana funeral umberella look!

The pumpkin is an acrylic foil technique. You'd have to see that up close. Take Heavy Aluminum foil, crinckle it up REALLY WELL, then smooth it with a brayer. Paint it with acyrlic pain, dry it, then cover it with embossing ink and sprinkle on embossing enamel. Think UTEE or Frozen Opals. Melt it and wa-la! A shinney cool foil!

BUT, I did DIE CUT mine first, with, of course, on of Tim's new PUMPKINS mini Movers & Shapers dies! Shocking I know!!!

I used one of the edging embossing folders from the Sewing Texture Fades for the XXXXX pattern along the sides. AND the Pennent On The Edge Die with Kraft Glassine for the very bottom of the tag.

The banner that hangs from the 31, is one of Tim's Strip dies! Can I work in any more TIM into this??? I think the only product NOT designed by Mr. Holtz is the word BOO. They are rub-ons from Making Memories!

I am lucky enough to work with Karen at Artist and Display for the 3rd year of teaching at Tosa Rec's Learning Never Ends on Tuesday, October 18th! We always try & come up with a different project and this year we are working withAlchohol Inks, Clayboard by Ampersand Art and German/Victorian Scraps. A WONDERFUL combination to play with I must say!

I used white Peel Offs by Magenta, and inked with Eggplant alcohol ink.

Friday, October 14, 2011

ILOVEHalloween.
LOVE IT! And I really love making tags. So happyTim Holtz & Sizzix have come up with such amazing Dies and Texture Fades!
This tag will also work perfectly for the both the Grungy Monday 22 challenge at Studio L3 AND the HALLOWEEN or GOTH challenge on the Simon Says Stamp blog.

The background of the tag is done with Mustard Seed Distress Stain, accented with Ripe Perssimons! I stamped the back with the speckled part of the blood stain stamp (Stamper Anonymous CMS068) and the bats (CMS050).
I used the Kraft Glassine paper (LOVE that stuff) amd ran it through the Halloween Words Texture Fade, then accented it with the new Limited Edition Distress Inks in Grape Preserves and Ripe Perssimons!

The fence was created on book paper, misted with Maya Mists in black & silver using a stencil and punched with a Martha Steward Punch.

Again with the Kraft Glassine paper run through the Halloween Words TextureFade, then accented it with the new Limited Edition Distress Inks in Grape Preserves and Ripe Perssimons!

Here I used Fired Brick Distress Ink, then sprayed it with Perfect Mists in Forever Red. Dripped a little water on and dried it. Stamped the blood splater in Fired Brick and stamped the Skeleton (CMS050) in Picket Fence Distress Stain.

More Kraft Glassine paper run through the POISONTextureFade, then accented it with the new Limited Edition Distress Inks in Grape Preserves and Black Soot Distress Stain. Then I smooched it into just a bit of Heirloom Gold Perfect Mist!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Our friends Uncle Ed's was in the army a LONG time ago, and is going on the Honor flight November 5th to DC.
Our friends are having a "Welcome Home" party, and asked invitee's to write a letter or card of thanks!
I mentioned this to my friend Maggi, who has been SO generous with making Cards for the Troops, and she offered to make a few! WOW. 15! The girl is a machine I swear! But her designs are anything but! Beautiful, beautiful work! A simple, yet elegant style. One I don't share! I tried, I REALLY tried! But in the end, the 'other Jan' came out and did her thing! So all in all, between Maggi and I, we made 25 cards!
THANK YOU MAGGI! YOU rock!

Below are Maggi's, the Spellbinder Queen! I LOVE the Old Jalopy! My personal Favorite!

See, what did I tell you! LOVE that CARD!!

And my designs are below!

As you can see, I was able to work quite a bit of Tim Holtz' dies and texture fades into my designs!

Monday, October 10, 2011

From my 'roll' of the last couple weeks using the Vintage cabinet card dies and new Halloween texture fade. This insert was done on Cor-dinations Black Magic in orange. I also used Tim's Pennant On the Edge, mini rosette strip and the Mini M&S cat & crow.

Yes, it's true. I don't often make cards. STRANGE isn't it? I make a lot of backgrounds, work through techniques, but don't always make cards... Well THIS is a card I made last week! I used A LOT of Tim Holtz on this! His new Halloween Texture Fade, Mini-Rosette strip Die, The Cabinet Card and mini Cabinet Card Dies, Pennant On the Edge, Tissue Tape AND Grape Perssimons LE Distress Ink!

I'm digging this white China Marker I got at Hobby Lobby. It's kind of waxy. I run the paper (110# cardstock) through the embossing folder, rub the waxy pencil over the high spots, run the inkpad across the texture fade and run it through again to get the ink into the debossed areas of the card. The waxy pencil is a resist. It's nice and clean and adds to the Letterpressed look I love!!! Did I mention the Rock Candy Stickles? I LOVE THAT STUFF!

This ATB is done for a swap on the Chubby ATB group. It actually started out as another piece.... But the background made for a great beginning for this block.

This is the 'Poe' side. Ten Seconds metal with an image of Edgar from a free Halloween Craft sampler from www.DigitalCollageSheets.com.

This side has pieces cut from paper I embossed using Tim's new Halloween embossing folder. I ran the paper through the folder, using a white China marker (it's kind of waxy to create a resist) I went over the high points of the lettering. I spread Twig Distress Ink over the folder, placed the paper aback in and ran it through the Vagabond again. Wiped off ink from the raised part and got this cool look. I cut the words I wanted out, and placed them behind a piece of acetate which I had run through the Rays and Circles texture fade.

The base of the block was painted with a Black Dabber by Ranger. I cut 'stamps' from foam using the Gears & Clock dies, and stamped onto the black using silver & white dabbers. Remember it was starting out as another piece. Since there are so many layers, you don't really notice that, but it's there.

Fall in Wisconsin is so lovely and we are fortunate to live in a beautiful part of the state. Wooded, hilly.... The new strip die by Tim Holtz is a great reflection of this time of year! Autumn Gatheringcuts a variety of leaves, twigs, nuts....

I punched a circle from scrap, the cut the center out. I used Multi-medium to attached the leaves. I cut 2.5" strips of paper in various colors and textures. Before running through the Vagabond with the die, I either stamped them (words, patterns, textures) and/or spritzed them with Perfect Pearls Mists.

The background of the tag was done using Gesso and Distress Stain. Then I stamped the texture pattern (Stampers Anonymous) and dots (Hero Arts) using Twig, the new Distress Limited Edition ink. The pretty scallop on the left is from Sizzix as well as the embossing folder. The tissue tape is by 7 Gypsies. And of course the tag is finished with Adornments by Tim Holtz.